The Interview

For more than three decades the ballet dancer Sylvie Guillem has performed as principal dancer at most leading ballet establishments, redrawing the boundaries of the genre. But at the end of this year she will be giving her last performance in a worldwide farewell tour. She will undoubtedly go down in ballet history as one of the greatest dancers of all time - but she is famously been dubbed 'Made...

Could Turkey be slipping back into conflict? A fragile three year peace process between the government and Kurdish militants from the PKK, the Kurdistan workers’ party, has broken down. Several Turkish soldiers and police have been killed in the past few weeks and the government blames the PKK. Zeinab Badawi talks to Turkish MP Ertuğrul Kürkçü, Honorary President of the pro-Kurdish People's Democr...

The migrant crisis on both sides of the English Channel has led to accusation and counter accusation in Britain and France as thousands of migrants make nightly attempts to enter the UK illegally. What is clear is the EU's migration system isn't working. Hardtalk speaks to Calais' deputy-mayor Philippe Mignonet and senior British Conservative MP Tim Loughton. How can Europe move beyond the blame g...

A host of countries around the world still impose the ultimate punishment on the most serious criminals - death. What is it like to be in command of the machinery of state-sanctioned execution? Hardtalk gets a rare insight from Allen Ault, who spent years running the corrections system in the southern US state of Georgia. He organised the killing of criminals until he could stand it no more. Now h...

The prime minister Alexis Tsipras is facing a rebellion from the hard left in his party, Syriza, who accuse him of going back on his promise to reject austerity. However, it is not just economics that is at the heart of the disagreement; it is a struggle for what kind of country Greece wants to be in the 21st Century. Zeinab Badawi talks to Stathis Kouvelakis - a Syriza central committee member. W...

There are a number of successful contemporary artists whose work sells for millions of dollars. But how many of them will leave an enduring mark when the clamour of fashion and hype has moved elsewhere? Hardtalk speaks to one of Britain's best known and controversial artists Marc Quinn. He sculpts, he paints, he manufactures extraordinary objects, and sometimes he enrages the critics - but will hi...

If you are watching cycling's greatest race the Tour de France this year, are you admiring the remarkable strength and stamina of the riders, or privately wondering whether their performance is fuelled by illegal substances? So much elite sport today is tainted by our knowledge of past cheating. Hardtalk's Stephen Sackur talks to David Howman, director General of the World Anti-Doping Agency. Why...

What does it mean to be black in the United States today? The messages are mixed. An African-American has made it all the way to the White House, but in Barack Obama's America one in three of all young black males is likely to spend time in prison during the course of his life. Stephen Sackur speaks to Bryan Stevenson, a lawyer, rights advocate and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. Why are...

Hardtalk is at Nato headquarters in Brussels to speak to the organisation’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg. In some ways it is just like old times – Moscow is once again seen to pose a threat to Europe’s eastern flank. Nato leaders promise a robust, collective response. But a generation on from the Cold War - are they serious? The western world’s military alliance has a proud history, but doe...

Ukraine is grappling with security and economic challenges, which could bring the nation to its knees. The country needs a new generation of strong, reform-minded leaders - but does it need Mikheil Saakashvili? Hardtalk speaks to the former president of neighbouring Georgia, recently appointed governor of Ukraine’s strategically vital Odessa region. He knows all about confrontation with Vladimir P...

Hardtalk speaks to William Schabas, who chaired the commission of inquiry into the Gaza war until he quit under heavy fire from Israel. What does the Schabas saga say about the effort to apply international justice in the Middle east?

Stephen Sackur speaks to writer and publisher Jürgen Todenhöfer, who embarked on one of the most hazardous journeys imaginable for a western journalist. Last December, the 74-year-old German spent 10 days inside the territory controlled by the so-called Islamic State movement. He was taken to the group's base in Raqqa, Syria, and then to their most highly prized asset in Iraq - the northern city o...

A special edition of Hardtalk from Cannes, which is currently hosting the world’s advertising industry. Thanks to the internet, advertising and marketing now have the ability to reach deep into the fabric of our lives. No one has exploited that better than today’s guest – Sir Martin Sorrell, the founder and CEO of the giant advertising conglomerate, WPP. The ad industry is extraordinary powerful,...

Sarah Montague speaks to Bernard Jenkin who has argued for "fundamental change" in Britain's relationship with Europe since he was first elected as a Conservative MP more than 20 years ago. Prime Minister David Cameron is due to meet Europe's 27 other leaders this week but can he secure enough from his negotiations to win over the eurosceptics? (Photo: Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin. Credit: Conse...

Not since Margaret Thatcher vowed to break the power of organised labour has Britain's trade union movement faced a bigger threat. The new government wants to make it harder to take industrial action. Hardtalk speaks to Frances O'Grady, whose organisation - the TUC - is the collective voice of the unions. Across Europe, in most countries, the number of workers joining unions is in decline. For man...

Zeinab Badawi speaks to the Sudanese politician Ghazi Salahuddin Atabani. For 25 years he stood beside Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir as a key adviser and party leader. Then, less than two years ago, he deserted the government and now heads the opposition Reform Now Movement. As a former insider, does he really believe the opposition stand a chance in Sudan? (Photo: Ghazi Salahuddin Atabani, lea...

Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium is the venue for the Fifa World Cup final in 2018 – at least it is if Russia retains its status as host nation to the World’s biggest sporting event. The decision to award the next two World cups to Russia then Qatar is now being investigated by the authorities in Switzerland and the US. Stephen Sackur asks the chief of Russia’s world cup organising committee, Alexei Soro...

Barack Obama is due to visit Kenya - his father's homeland - next month. When Obama came to power as the first African-American president of the US, hopes were high in Africa that the continent would bask in his reflected glory and enjoy a new focus in US foreign policy. Zeinab Badawi talks to Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US Assistant-Secretary of State for African Affairs and asks does Obama have...

China has been accused by Washington of bullying its neighbours in the South China Sea over disputed territory there. Washington is seeking a new trade pact in Asia that excludes Beijing, whilst China is spending hundreds of billions in investment projects across Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, extending its economic power the world over. Hardtalk’s Zeinab Badawi talks to one of China's mo...

Stephen Sackur speaks to an Irish writer whose intense, lyrical novels have won him awards, acclaim and most importantly millions of readers around the world. Colm Tóibín is not so much a flamboyant storyteller, he is more an acute observer of character and the deepest human feelings. There are recurring themes in his work - loss, mourning, exile, which might suggest a dark, brooding presence - bu...

West Africa has perhaps lulled outsiders into a false sense of security. The regional economy has grown fast and key countries like Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal have embraced democratic transitions. But, the appearance of stability may be illusory. Boko Haram's militant insurgency threatens not just Nigeria, but neighbouring states. Poverty, corruption and repression are still endemic. Stephen Sacku...

In-depth, hard-hitting interviews with newsworthy personalities.

When the self-styled Islamic State movement took control of Ramadi, capital of Iraq's Anbar province, it was another humiliation for the Baghdad government. Another discomforting development for the United States which has bombed IS, but failed to neutralise the jihadi threat. Stephen Sackur talks to Emma Sky, a British woman who was a senior adviser to the US military in Iraq until 2010. Where do...

The ANC has come under fire for its response to the xenophobic violence which left seven people dead. Some critics say the government’s response was too slow and neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi expressed outrage at the treatment of their citizens and were quick to remind South Africa of the outside help that was given to them during the years of the anti-apartheid st...

In-depth, hard-hitting interviews with newsworthy personalities.